What is the best cheap curling tool for someone with shoulder length hair and crap hairdressing skills?

[ToooOldForThis]

I have shoulder length hair that's long overdue a cut...straggly and grown out of its style. Unfortunately my Xmas night out occurs before my haircut and I'm thinking it might look better if I curled it a bit? I know you can do it with straighteners but I'm a bit rubbish at that...is there any magic cheap thing around that even someone fairly clueless could make curls with?! Hair is straight-ish to begin with. Thank you!

This curler is a game changer! www.boots.com/babyliss-curl-hair-styler-luxe-10283648
It blows out cold air so that the hair comes out of the curl bit and is cooled straight away to hold better. The slightest turn gives a perfect curl. I turn it once then pull my hair through. It's so good. It's not like a straightener where you need to find the knack. You can't go wrong with this. I've just chopped my hair to shoulder length and I use this on the ends to give it a lovely curl. The only negative is you can't control how curled you want it. It always gives a nice tight curl rather than a loose lazy wave. It's nice when it's dropped out over a few days. I absolutely love it. Watch some YouTube videos of it and you'll see what I mean :)

Far and away my favourite styling tool is my Revlon hot brush. I dry in sections then twist the finished section and clip it up while I do the next (with those pointy sectioning clips hairdressers use, cheap on Amazon).

The brush gives great volume and and smoothing, and when I undo the clips and shake/finger comb the twists out my hair has lovely curls and waves.

Following for inspo.

What is the texture of your hair op?

I've tried the Toni and guy three barrel waver, a wand (conical shaped one) and ghds and none give me a nice look in my fine hair. It just all tangled. Next stop is a tong.

I need to know this too. Can’t use a straightener..l have no idea how to do it despite watching videos. Just end up with one 90degree bend.I bought a curling wand from Asda for the grand sum of £9 and l can’t even get a curl with that. My hair sounds very similar to yours. Thought about one of those secret curl machines…but scared I’d get my hair stuck and it would burn it. Also they are so expensive.

My hair is pretty fine, but it also has started to go unpleasantly dry/gnarly, the joys of menopause..certainly not silky smooth like it used to be! Quite fly away and prone to static which is another reason the straighteners aren't great!

I like the look of that one linked above, thank you! I was just hoping not to spend as much, but maybe nothing cheap and wonderful exists!

Can you try heatless curls? You can use the heatless curls things in Amazon (under £10), the tie of a dressing gown or even gym leggings! If you YouTube heatless curls videos it might help. You can wash your hair and dry the night before or morning of, pop the heatless curls in and take them out a few hours later or overnight 😊 practice makes perfect and it's the cheapest option I know of!

I bought the wylera curling thing after being sucked in by a fb ad and thought it would probably be rubbish, but it's really really good. It's foolproof, requires zero skill just a few goes to work out what temp and time is best for your hair. Also they're bound to be discounted right now

Oooh is that the wee handheld thing that you sort of feed your hair into?

https://www.boots.com/revamp-progloss-hollywood-automatic-rotating-hair-curler-10283609?cmmmc=bmm-buk-google-ppccPLAsAsHeroCompareareElectricalBeautyyHair--UKKSmartShoppinggElectricalBeautyyHair&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajUNaKaKz-b5AwvX5YFKMbMKa&gbraid=0AAAAADrIajUNaKaKz-b5AwvX5YFKMbMKa&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2qO58NzO-wIVomLmCh08jgCREAQYJyABEgKj3DD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is literally the best thing ever. Got it for Xmas last year and was initially disappointed as thought it'd be rubbish but I love it. I'd never use a normal curling wand again. Perfect for shoulder length hair but mines really grown since I first got it and it still works great.

Electric rollers on day old hair
Bottle of nana setting lotion
1 x any teen girl to do the rolling up part

Yep- just get a section, stick a bit through the gap and press the button. It winds it, beeps until you've heated it enough and you let it go. I was worried it would get tangled but if it does it just releases. Genuinely foolproof